> At Intel's scale having 4 core chips with integrated graphics or 6 core chips without integrated graphics and slightly smaller transistor count is not a significant cost, meaning they could both sell for similar prices.

Yeah, that's not how silicon manufacturing works. Tooling up for a new part of this size and ramping production gets into the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. No one does niche-market (and yes, gaming desktops are niche) parts at the prices you expect.

Low-volume big parts cost a thousand dollars or more, that's no different at Intel than it is anywhere else.